


uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

by coruscantguard (nadiavandyne), nadiavandyne



Series: 2020 Fic Challenges [17]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Canon Compliant, Favorite Outfit - Queen Apailana's Mourning Gown, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Death, Jedi purge, Mentions of genocide, Naboo Royal Handmaidens (Star Wars), Order 66, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Prequels Appreciation Week, Undeserved Reputation, Whumptober 2020, is something burning?, this one was not very nice of me i'll admit that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27076003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadiavandyne/pseuds/coruscantguard, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nadiavandyne/pseuds/nadiavandyne
Summary: The Jedi Temple is burning.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala & Apailana
Series: 2020 Fic Challenges [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1810486
Comments: 4
Kudos: 25
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Whumptober 2020





	uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

The Jedi Temple is burning.

It’s Senator Amidala who calls and tells her to check the news, Senator Amidala who’s _there_ when it happens. Because of Senator Amidala, Naboo is the first planet to release their official statement to their civilians regarding the matter, getting it out even before the Chancellor’s statement to Coruscant goes live.

Apailana knows that she’s given that statement. She remembers, vaguely, giving a speech, sitting behind the same desk that Padmé did all those years ago when she plead their case to the Senate. Her hair, she knows, has been done in a style similar to the one Padmé had worn, her makeup a direct ode to that look. It’s a radical statement, she knows that too, because the Jedi had been the ones to save Naboo from the invasion, and the Jedi have now been declared traitors and killed.

The Jedi have been declared traitors and killed.

The Jedi--

Oh, Force, lord have mercy, _the Jedi have been declared traitors and killed_. _Slaughtered_. The reports are coming in and each one is more horrendous than the last, whispers of betrayal and a coup and the corpses of _children_ being dragged out.

She thinks she’s going to be sick.

Padmé stopped responding to her comms thirty-one minutes, fifty-two seconds ago. Fifty-three. Fifty-four. She’s contacted the Senator’s aides, her handmaidens, but none of them know of her location either, and Apailana can only pray that she’s okay.

At least she knows her own handmaidens are safe. Kaliana hasn’t stopped trembling since she first saw the holos, and Saabiana’s hands shake as she plaits Rauana’s hair-- so she’s ready to slip on a wig if she needs to act as a decoy-- but they’re all _safe_. They’re _here_.

Apailana herself is wedged in between the arm of the sofa and a cushion, curled up into the tightest ball she can manage while still in her heavy gown. She’s taken off her wig, but her makeup is still on, a clear message of mourning she can’t bare to wipe away. 

After her speech, she’d been rushed here, and the Captain had instructed her to stay here until he returned. Still, she knows she should be looking at her holopad, trying to figure out more information, making a plan of action. But...

But every time she opens up a news sight, she feels sick to her stomach, and has to look away so she doesn’t quite literally vomit.

So instead, she’s just refreshing her communications with Padmé, hoping for a miracle, a response, Force, maybe even an apology for dropping off of the face of the galaxy, but she doesn’t really care for the last one. She’s justifying it to herself by saying that she needs to figure out why Senator Amidala hasn’t handled the intergalactic response from Naboo yet-- which _is_ the truth, because unless Naboo is truly having a dire emergency, the Queen is supposed to leave the intergalactic response to the Senator, but they _do_ need to respond, and Senator Amidala hasn’t done that yet-- but really, she just wants to know if Padmé is _okay_.

She’d feel worse about it if Cresana wasn’t sitting on a pile of pillows on the ground, doing the exact same thing.

Less than an hour ago, Rauana and her had been teasing Saabiana about the fact that Kaliana had said that Cresana had said that her cousin’s best friend’s sister had said that Saabiana had caught the eye of one of the daughter of one of the visiting dignitaries from Alderraan. And less than an hour ago, messages had started flooding in that the Jedi were cowards, murderers, warmongers, freaks who deserved what they got, deserved to have their temple _burn_ and their younglings _killed_. 

She doesn’t know what is true anymore. She knows what she _believes_ , knows her mentors have taught her, what her experiences have led her to believe, but...

The Jedi Temple is burning. And none of her mentors, none of her experiences, could have prepared her for this.

**Author's Note:**

> \- This is for Whumptober's "Is something burning", BTHB "Undeserved reputation", and SWPAW2020 "Favorite Outfit"!!! Yes, it's also very late, oops. 
> 
> \- The title is from Shakespeare's _Henry IV, Part II_!
> 
> \- Apailana deserved better, y'all
> 
> \- I hope you enjoyed! Come talk to me on Tumblr [@coruscantguard!](https://coruscantguard.tumblr.com/)


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